Apr 29
MAKE a note of October 6, 2011 – for it’s a date which strikes fear into many small and medium law firms.
Now just a few months away, the Legal Services Act is about to change the way the public can access legal services and, undoubtedly, the way that traditional law firms do business with the public.
This change, and the creation of alternative business structures, will enable supermarkets, banks and other high street names to enter the market and provide certain legal services to their customers. The Act has forced many law firms to think differently about how they market themselves.
Through our consultancy work over the last year, we have found three dominant attitudes regarding marketing in legal practices . . .
1. “Let’s collaborate, strength in numbers”. Firms centralising resources and the creation of umbrella brands with a higher collective profile than the individual constituents;
2.
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Tags: Firms, Law Firms
Apr 29
Companies should be forced to spell out in simple form how they use their profits, stating how much is invested back into the businesses, how much is paid in dividends to shareholders and how much is handed to staff to help investors gauge whether bonuses can be justified.
Under the proposal being developed by Robert Talbut, chief investment officer of Royal London Asset Management, companies should be required to publish three years of such information in their annual report and accounts.
A member of the independent High Pay Commission, Talbut said: “Far too much of the debate over remuneration takes place in isolation with little relation to the context of the company and its strategy.”
He hopes his idea will allow a more sophisticated debate to take place about the ability of each individual company to pay out bonuses, dividends and invest in their businesses – particularly at a time when some companies are adding to the complexity of their bonus schemes.
Talbut’s idea for a “distribution schedule” of how profits are used is intended to make it easier for shareholders to discuss company strategy with management teams.
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Tags: Profits, Profits Split
Apr 28
APRIL’S policy statement by the Federal Reserve was a dull one by the standards of central banks, which is saying something. Growth looks softer than expected and inflation is a smidgen more energetic. Still, America’s central bank will complete its $600 billion programme of asset purchases as scheduled, and the language promising near-zero interest rates for an “extended period” didn’t change. Markets yawned.
The financial press, however, was astir. The April 26th-27th meeting of the Fed’s policy committee concluded with an historical first, as Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, welcomed journalists into the central bank’s headquarters in Washington, DC for a press conference. The introduction of a Q&A session brings the Fed into line with the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, and represents a further step in its campaign to increase transparency.
There were some titbits.
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Tags: Federal Reserve, Reserve
Apr 27
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Apparently the threat of headline deflation off the table, Bernanke is not inclined to pursue sustained easing despite low core inflation and high unemployment. Again, I am not entirely surprised, except that Bernanke appear to suggest we are much closer to an inflation tipping point than I would expect. He could have tempered these comments with a more forceful discussion of labor costs, but did not. It seems clear these comments were intended to calm the non-existent bond market vigilantes, but is it consistent with the outlook? Arguably, no. For what its worth, I think Bernanke appeared most uncomfortable during this portion of the conference.
Bottom Line: When I look at the revisions to the Feds outlook and listen to Bernanke, I get the sense that the basic Fed policy is summarized as follows: The economic situation continues to fall short of that consistent with the dual mandate, we have the tools to address that deviation, but will take no additional action because some people in the Middle East are seeking democracy.The Fed’s forecasts for inflation and the unemployment rate would seem to suggest more QE, but I think Tim Duy’s assessment is correct: Bernanke has set the bar very high for QE3. Read more…
Tags: High, High Bar
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